Shinseki Promises to Modernize VA
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press
JANUARY 15, 2009

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama's choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that six-month waits to process a disability claim would not be acceptable under his watch.

Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, 66, promised to modernize the nation's second largest agency.

If confirmed, Shinseki would be the first Asian-American to lead the agency. He received a warm welcome from senators at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he anticipates Shinseki would be confirmed on Tuesday — the day Obama is sworn in as president. Akaka praised Shinseki's qualifications and empathy for veterans but warned that leading the agency wouldn't be easy.

"The frustrating lack of timeliness, and the challenges of coordinating DOD and VA's systems, are some of the areas that must be addressed quickly," he said.

Shinseki was the Army's first four-star general of Japanese-American descent. As Army chief of staff, he helped lead the Army's transformation to a lighter, more mobile force. He retired in 2003, shortly after clashing with the Bush administration on war policy.

He told the senators he doesn't understand why veterans are currently waiting six months on average to have a claim processed. "We need to do something about this," he said.

Shinseki said another priority would be to ensure that new GI benefits are rolled out in August, as planned.

He promised to work to reopen benefits to many "Priority 8" middle-income veterans who didn't qualify under the Bush administration. Such "Priority 8" veterans, whose income exceeded roughly $30,000 annually, were blocked from enrollment in the VA system in January 2003.

As Army chief of staff, Shinseki testified before Congress prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control the country afterward. Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld belittled that estimate, and Shinseki retired soon after.

But Shinseki's words proved prophetic four years later, when President George W. Bush announced a surge of additional troops to Iraq.

Like the veterans the agency serves, Shinseki knows well the potential lifetime consequences of combat. He was injured twice in combat, losing part of a foot while serving in Vietnam when he stepped on a land mine.

___

On the Net:

Veterans Affairs Department: http://www.va.gov/

Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs: http://veterans.senate.gov/

Rumsfeld Nemesis Shinseki to be Named VA Secretary
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, turning to a former Army chief of staff once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its Iraq war strategy.

Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference Sunday in Chicago. He will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans Affairs secretary, adding to the growing diversity of Obama's Cabinet.

"I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home," Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" to be broadcast Sunday.

NBC released a transcript of the interview after The Associated Press reported that Shinseki was Obama's pick.

Shinseki's tenure as Army chief of staff from 1999 to 2003 was marked by constant tensions with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which boiled over in 2003 when Shinseki testified to Congress that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion.

Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, belittled the estimate as "wildly off the mark" and the army general was ousted within months. But Shinseki's words proved prophetic after President George W. Bush in early 2007 announced a "surge" of additional troops to Iraq after miscalculating the numbers needed to stem sectarian violence.

Obama said he chose Shinseki for the VA post because he "was right" in predicting that the U.S. will need more troops in Iraq than Rumsfeld believed at the time.

"When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even more than those who have not served — higher unemployment rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is inadequate — it breaks my heart," Obama told NBC.

Shinseki, 66, is slated to take the helm of the government's second largest agency, which was roundly criticized during the Bush administration for underestimating the amount of funding needed to treat thousands of injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thousands of veterans currently endure six-month waits for disability benefits, despite promises by current VA Secretary James Peake and his predecessor, Jim Nicholson, to reduce delays. The department also is scrambling to upgrade government technology systems before new legislation providing for millions of dollars in new GI benefits takes effect next August.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, praised Shinseki as a "great choice" who will make an excellent VA secretary.

"I have great respect for General Shinseki's judgment and abilities," Akaka said in a statement. "I am confident that he will use his wisdom and experience to ensure that our veterans receive the respect and care they have earned in defense of our nation. President-elect Obama is selecting a team that reflects our nation's greatest strength, its diversity, and I applaud him."

Veterans groups also cheered the decision.

"General Shinseki has a record of courage and honesty, and is a bold choice to lead the VA into the future," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "He is a man that has always put patriotism ahead of politics, and is held in high regard by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan."

Obama's choice of Shinseki, who grew up in Hawaii, is the latest indication that the president-elect is making good on his pledge to have a diverse Cabinet.

In Obama's eight Cabinet announcements so far, white men are the minority with two nominations — Timothy Geithner at Treasury and Robert Gates at Defense. Three are women — Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Hillary Rodham Clinton at State. Eric Holder at the Justice Department is African American, while Bill Richardson at Commerce is Latino.

Shinseki is a recipient of two Purple Hearts for life-threatening injuries in Vietnam.

Upon leaving his post in June 2003, Shinseki in his farewell speech sternly warned against arrogance in leadership.

"You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader," he said. "You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it. And without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance."

Shinseki also left with the warning: "Beware a 12-division strategy for a 10-division army."

VA Quadruples Payment to Vets with Brain Injuries
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press

The government is more than quadrupling monthly payments to some veterans suffering brain injuries, as the number of such war wounds mounts from the roadside bombings of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new compensation is based on the assessment that even some troops who have the mildest form of traumatic brain injury could end up with chronic headaches, memory loss, anxiety or other symptoms that will hurt their chances of getting a job or job advancement — thus reducing their lifetime earnings by 40 percent.

In a regulation announced Tuesday by the Department of Veterans Affairs, officials changed the way they evaluate the injuries. They now judge a person to be 40 percent disabled in such cases rather than 10 percent. The old lower rating was set by a 1961 regulation.

The rating change means that an unmarried veteran, who now receives $117 monthly in compensation, will receive $512. Extra money also will be calculated for troops with spouses and children.

Mild traumatic brain injury is basically a form of concussion that results from severe shaking of the brain after a blast. It can cause blurred vision, insomnia, irritability and other problems.

The VA change represents the "best judgment of medical experts about what the impact" of such injuries is and how best to evaluate veterans who come to the VA for help, said Tom Pamperin, a deputy director for the department's compensation and pension service.

The change goes into effect in 30 days and those receiving compensation under the old system can have their cases reviewed.

Roughly 1.7 million American troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and a RAND Corporation study estimated early this year that up to 320,000 may have suffered a traumatic brain injury. Officials say that the vast majority of the cases are mild — and that most veterans recover from the mild cases in weeks or months. The new, higher disability rating is for the smaller percentage who suffer permanent damage, Pamperin said.

The extra disability compensation is expected to cost nearly $124 million through 2017. That's based on the assumption that the number of troops who get such payments will rise steadily in the coming years to 5,100 for 2017 from about 800 new cases a year now, Pamperin said.

He said the number of troops going to the VA with brain injuries was only about 200 annually before the start of the Iraq war, where insurgent use of roadside explosives and car-bombs has made brain injuries, amputations, burns and post-traumatic stress disorder the vast majority of wounds from the campaign. Insurgents are also increasingly using explosives in Afghanistan.

Officials believe compensation levels are already correct for troops with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury that can involve open head wounds.

Though most troops with the severe cases already can be rated at 100 percent disabled, an increase has been approved for additional care they might need. That is, a single vet who needs assisted care can get $3,145 a month compared to the current $2,527 payment.

Soldiers' Suicide Rate On Pace to Set Record
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post

Suicides among active-duty soldiers this year are on pace to exceed both last year's all-time record and, for the first time since the Vietnam War, the rate among the general U.S. population, Army officials said yesterday.

Ninety-three active-duty soldiers had killed themselves through the end of August, the latest data show. A third of those cases are under investigation by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner's Office. In 2007, 115 soldiers committed suicide.

Failed relationships, legal and financial troubles, and the high stress of wartime operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are the leading factors linked to the suicides, Army officials said.

The officials voiced concern that an array of Army programs aimed at suicide prevention has not checked a years-long rise in the suicide rate. Still, they said, the number of deaths probably would have climbed even more without such efforts.

"What does success look like? Frankly, we do not know," said Col. Eddie Stephens, deputy director for human resources under the Army's personnel division.

The Army's suicide rate has increased from 12.4 per 100,000 in 2003, when the Iraq war started, to 18.1 per 100,000 last year. Suicide attempts by soldiers have also increased since 2003, Stephens said.

This year the death rate is likely to exceed that of a demographically similar segment of the U.S. population -- 19.5 per 100,000, Stephens said. According to service officials, the last time that occurred was in the late 1960s during the Vietnam War, when the United States had a draft Army that suffered from serious discipline problems. In 1973, the nation created an all-volunteer force that has generally enjoyed an above-average level of mental health, a condition contradicted by the recent rise in suicides.

The latest Army prevention efforts include the hiring of hundreds of new mental health providers, the production of an interactive video on the subject, to be released this fall, and the introduction of an intervention program aimed at teaching junior Army leaders not only suicidal symptoms but actions that can prevent suicides.

The ACE program includes handing out laminated cards decorated with the ace of hearts that advise three steps -- "ask," "care" and "escort" -- that spell "ACE": Ask your buddy direct questions such as "Are you thinking of killing yourself?"; care for your buddy by taking away weapons; and escort your buddy to a military chaplain or health provider.

"Take away the weapon if someone is playing Russian roulette with it. . . . Unfortunately, people have not always done that," said Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, the Army's assistant surgeon general for force protection. Army prevention programs to this point have not trained soldiers adequately in what to do after they learn a comrade is in crisis, she added.

Another measure that Cornum said has proven effective is for Army commanders in combat zones to take a more "humanistic" approach and to return soldiers home so they can deal with personal crises and thereby "live another day to keep serving."

Col. Scott McBride, commander of the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, said such measures have helped him prevent any suicides among his 4,000 soldiers, who have been deployed in northern Iraq for the past year.

"If they're having a problem at home and we can keep a family together, reduce stress by sending a soldier home so he can take care of that problem, we're doing that," McBride said yesterday by video link from Iraq.

Last month, Congress passed the G.I. Bill for the 21st Century – critical legislation providing a full, four-year college education to the men and women of the U.S. military who have served on active duty since September 11, 2001. The bill helps make our troops and veterans part of a new economic recovery, just like the Greatest Generation did after World War II. But despite bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate and overwhelming support from veterans groups, President Bush has threatened to veto the bill.

Republican Former Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner calls the Pentagon’s opposition “very thin and tenuous…The flip side of that is putting a big piece of cheese out there will induce more qualified people to join just to get this. It should be a tremendous incentive for recruitment.” [Politico, 4/ 30/08]

Peake suggested that some concerns about PTSD are "overblown," adding that many of the brain injuries were "akin to what anyone who played football in their youth might have suffered."

On Saturday, Peake also said that many vets with PTSD may just need "a little counseling" and shouldn't "need the PTSD label their whole lives." Peake's comments are disturbing, especially in light of new numbers released by the Pentagon this week showing that the number of new PTSD cases "jumped by roughly 50 percent in 2007."

Additionally, as Brandon Friedman at VetVoice points out, Peake's comments are undermined by VA psychiatrist Jonathan Shay, who has stressed the seriousness of PSTD: "Combat PTSD is a war injury.

The Pentagon, the White House and other conservatives have rallied against Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) 21st Century GI Bill, citing a recent CBO report that concluded that Webb's bill would reduce reenlistment rates by 16 percent.

In fact, the report says that the drop in reenlistment rate would be offset by a 16 percent increase in recruitment.

Slate has taken a closer look at the CBO's numbers and has noted that the military would in fact see several times as many new recruits as drop-outs because "the '16 percents'" in the CBO report "aren't necessarily equal." Slate explains: "the CBO estimate concluded that the 16 percent increase in recruitment would add an additional 30,000 recruits annually, while a 16 percent decline in re-enlistment would result in 7,000 fewer re-enlistments annually. In other words, new recruits would greatly outnumber soldiers who decline to re-enlist."

CBS: Veteran Suicide Cover-Up Runs Deep

New information reveals that statistics related to veterans’ suicides was explicitly withheld from the public and from CBS News.

“People within the Veterans Administration who were withholding this information were not at the bottom of the totem pole, this went all the way to the top,” one veterans’ rights attorney told CBS chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.

In one email, Keteyian reports that a VA media adviser wrote, “I don’t want to give CBS any more numbers on veteran suicides or attempts than they already have– It will only lead to more questions.”

Nearly 1 In 5 Troops Has Mental Problems After War Service
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press

Roughly one in every five U.S. troops who have survived the bombs and other dangers of Iraq and Afghanistan now suffers from major depression or post-traumatic stress, an independent study said Thursday. It estimated the toll at 300,000 or more.

As many or more report possible brain injuries from explosions or other head wounds, said the study, the first major survey from outside the government.

Only about half of those with mental health problems have sought treatment. Even fewer of those with head injuries have seen doctors.

Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker said the report, from the Rand Corp., was welcome.

"They're helping us to raise the visibility and the attention that's needed by the American public at large," said Schoomaker, a lieutenant general. "They are making this a national debate."

The researchers said 18.5 percent of current and former service members contacted in a recent survey reported symptoms of depression or post-traumatic stress. Based on Pentagon data that more than 1.6 million have deployed to the two wars, the researchers calculated that about 300,000 are suffering mental health problems.

Nineteen percent — or an estimated 320,000 — may have suffered head injuries, the study calculated. Those range from mild concussions to severe, penetrating head wounds.

"There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Terri Tanielian, the project's co-leader and a researcher at Rand. "Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation."

The study, the first large-scale, private assessment of its kind, includes a survey of 1,965 service members across the country, from all branches of the armed forces and including those still in the military as well veterans who have completed their service. The Iraq war has been notable for the repeat tours required of many troops, sometimes for longer than a year at a time.

The results of the study appear consistent with mental health reports from within the government, though the Defense Department has not released the number of people it has diagnosed or who are being treated for mental problems.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said this month that its records show about 120,000 who served in the two wars and are no longer in the military have been diagnosed with mental health problems. Of those, about 60,000 are suffering from post-traumatic stress, and depression runs a close second.

Veterans Affairs is responsible for care of service members after they have leave the military. The Defense Department covers active duty and reservist needs.

The lack of numbers from the Pentagon was one motivation for the Rand study, Tanielian said in an interview.

The most prominent and detailed Pentagon study on the military's mental health that is released regularly to the public is the Army's survey of soldiers, taken annually at the battle zones since 2003.

Veterans Affairs Refuses To Provide Voter Registration For Wounded Vets
Filed by John Byrne

At a quiet 1999 ceremony in MaComb County, Michigan, a plainspoken former Texas governor delivered a patriotic speech to commemorate Veterans' Day.

But none of the eight veterans interviewed by The New York Times after the ceremony promised George W. Bush their vote.

A new report Thursday reveals that Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake told two Democratic senators his department will not help injured veterans register to vote before the 2008 election.

"VA remains opposed to becoming a voter registration agency pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, as this designation would divert substantial resources from our primary mission," Peake said in an April 8th letter to Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) acquired by Steven Rosenfeld at Alternet.

Peake refers to a 1993 law that allows government departments to engage in voter registration efforts, Rosenfeld says.

What this means is that many injured veterans still in VA hospitals who can't find means to register outside of their facilities will effectively lose their right to vote. Wounded veterans who have moved must re-register at their "new addresses" or file for absentee ballots in order to participate in the presidential and other elections.

Peake defends the decision by saying that a court recently ruled the VA's limits on "partisan political activities" "does not on its face violate [veterans'] First Amendment' rights," Rosenfeld notes, without articulating how registering veterans is a partisan activity.

Peake added, "VA shares your commitment to assisting veterans in exercising their Constitutional right to vote."

The court ruling he's appears to be referring to is Patrick Griffin v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in which a Federal Circuit of Appeals court upheld the VA's rules governing the conduct of those who practice "free speech" -- or protest -- in government graveyards.

Among other things, the VA prohibits "partisan activities, i.e., those involving commentary or actions in support of, or in opposition to, or attempting to influence, any current policy of the Government of the United States, or any private group, association, or enterprise."

Sens. Kerry and Feinstein fired off a letter in reply.

"The Department of Veterans Affairs should provide voter materials to veterans," Feinstein wrote, according to Rosenfeld's report. "I believe the cost of providing these voter materials is minimal. It's a small price to pay for the sacrifice these men and women have made in fighting for our nation's freedom. I am disappointed."

"You'd think that when so many people give speeches about keeping faith with our veterans, the least the government would do is protect their right to vote, after they volunteered to go thousands of miles from home to fight and give that right to others," Kerry said. "And yet we've seen the government itself block veterans from registering to vote in VA facilities, without any legal basis or rational explanation."

Veterans' Affairs other scandals

It isn't the first time the Bush Administration's Department of Veterans' Affairs has been accused of slighting the nations thousands of Iraq vets. In 2005, Salon.com's Mark Benajamin revealed that military naval hospitals were delivering grossly subpar treatment to vets.

Before he hanged himself with his bathrobe sash in the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Spc. Alexis Soto-Ramirez complained to friends about his medical treatment. Soto-Ramirez, 43, had been flown out of Iraq five months before then because of chronic back pain that became excruciating during the war. But doctors were really worried about his mind. They thought he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving with the 544th Military Police Company, a unit of the Puerto Rico National Guard, the kind of unit that saw dirty, face-to-face combat in Iraq.

A copy of Soto-Ramirez's medical records, reviewed by Salon, show that a doctor who treated him in Puerto Rico upon his return from Iraq believed his mental problems were probably caused by the war and that his future was in the Army's hands. "Clearly, the psychiatric symptoms are combat related," a clinical psychologist at Roosevelt Roads Naval Hospital wrote on Nov. 24, 2003. The entry says, "Outcome will depend on adequacy and appropriateness of treatment." Doctors in Puerto Rico sent Soto-Ramirez to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., to get the best care the Army had to offer. There, he was put in Ward 54, Walter Reed's "lockdown," or inpatient psychiatric ward, where the most troubled patients are supposed to have constant supervision.

At that time, Walter Reed officials wouldn't discuss Salon's findings: "We are satisfied that there is a very high level of patient satisfaction with their treatment."

The Washington Post's Dana Priest delivered a stunning series on the failures at the hospital in her series, "The Other Walter Reed," for which she and her newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize.

"Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold," Priest wrote. "When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses."

Veterans' advocates are incensed about the VA's decision not to allow registration at military hospitals.

"During a time of war, our Nation has a special and sacred duty to assist our fellow citizens who have defended our Constitution with their lives - our military veterans -- with registering to vote and with voting," Paul Sullivan, Veterans for Common Sense executive director, told Rosenfeld. "We encourage VA to allow non-partisan voter registration drives at VA facilities so that as many veterans as possible can actively participate in our democracy -- we owe our veterans no less for standing between a bullet and our Constitution."

Thousands of Vietnam veterans will likely head to Washington, DC, this weekend to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Many of these soldiers unfortunately received a "chilly public reception" when they returned home from that highly unpopular war.

But now they are now helping the nation embrace troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite low public support for the Iraq war, a Pew Research poll in March found that 77 percent of the American public has a favorable view of the military and "72 percent say the government doesn't give enough support" to returning soldiers.

Seven months after the Washington Post uncovered the deplorable conditions of "neglect" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a September Government Accountability Office report found that "wounded warriors are still getting the runaround" from the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Wars take a heavy toll on the health of the nation's soldiers. At least "283 combat veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005 took their own lives," a figure "reminiscent of the increased suicide risk among returning soldiers in the Vietnam era."

Additionally, more than 100,000 combat veterans have "sought help for mental illness since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001"; half of those cases were for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet the nation's health care system still isn't up to the task of caring for these veterans.

A recent National Academies study found that PTSD treatments generally "lack rigorous scientific evidence that they are effective," with evidence often "assembled by pharmaceutical companies that make the drugs or by researchers with conflicts of interest in the outcome of the studies." This week, President Bush signed into law the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act, which directs the VA to "develop a comprehensive program to reduce the rate of suicide among veterans."

EDUCATING THE 'NEW GREATEST GENERATION'

"Members of Congress and other political leaders often say that the men and women who have served in our military since 9/11 are the 'new greatest generation'" writes Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) in today's New York Times.

"Well, here's a thought from two infantry combat veterans of the Vietnam era's 'wounded generation': if you truly believe that our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are like those who fought in World War II, let us provide them with the same G.I. Bill that was given to the veterans of that war." Instead of receiving full college tuition and fees, veterans today receive approximately $800 a month for college, which is about "13 percent of the cost of attending Columbia." Yet the administration continues to resist efforts to strengthen the G.I. Bill. In August, a VA official said the idea would be too "cumbersome."

A 'TSUNAMI' OF HOMELESS VETERANS

In addition to receiving medical care, veterans struggle to return to jobs, school, and even their homes. A new report released this week finds that veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, with 1,500 homeless veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"We're beginning to see, across the country, the first trickle of this generation of warriors in homeless shelters," said Phil Landis, chairman of Veterans Village of San Diego, a residence and counseling center. "But we anticipate that it's going to be a tsunami."

This week, the House "passed a bill to increase funding for a low-interest loan program that helps veterans in Oregon and four other states, including Texas, buy homes."

LEADING VETERANS AFFAIRS

When VA Secretary Jim Nicholson stepped down in July, he left behind an agency that left veterans at risk. In May 2006, Nicholson waited two weeks to notify the Justice Department and FBI of the "largest loss of personal data in U.S. government history," and then another full week before notifying the 26.5 million affected veterans.

He also awarded "$3.8 million in bonuses to top executives in fiscal 2006" -- many totaling as much as $33,000 -- despite a $1.3 billion department shortfall. Bush waited four months after Nicholson's announcement before nominating Dr. James Peake as a replacement. Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org, notes the challenges for Peake if he becomes secretary: "The most pressing question here is, will Dr. Peake be a leader, or will be he be a follower?

'National Embarrassment,' Says Cafferty: 1.8 Million Veterans Without Healthcare
Mike Aivaz and Jason Rhyne

"That's pretty sad stuff," Cafferty concluded.

VA May Win Boost In Funding For Mental Conditions Caused By War
Chris Adams | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Congressional appropriators are pushing a huge increase in spending for the Department of Veterans Affairs, despite some resistance from the White House.

Prompted by concerns that the VA can't adequately care for soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as older veterans already in the system, Congress is instructing the VA to push more money toward treatment of mental health and traumatic brain injuries.

A report by McClatchy Newspapers on inadequate treatment of mental ailments among veterans was specifically mentioned by Congress.

In recent days, appropriations bills for VA spending have moved through the House of Representatives and await a full-Senate vote. While there are slight differences between the bills, they call for a total of about $43 billion in health care and other discretionary VA funds — an increase of more than $6.5 billion, or about 18 percent, over the amount enacted for fiscal 2007, and substantially more than the president's proposal.

The White House last week said the congressional efforts involve an "excessive level of spending" and that the president's proposal of about $39 billion gives the VA "ample resources."

If Congress insists on increasing the VA budget, the White House said in a statement, it must cut other parts of the overall budget, ensuring that total spending remains under a certain level. If it doesn't, the president said he would veto other unspecified spending bills to bring the overall package in line.

But with broad support in both houses, Joseph A. Violante of the Disabled American Veterans said the VA budget appears safe. "Now we have to hold them accountable," he said.

The bills increase the president's request for mental health treatment, for building maintenance and for hiring workers to speed the processing of disability claims.

The House bill includes an extra $604 million for new initiatives in treating mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. It includes an extra $508 million for maintaining and renovating buildings.

The spending increases were spurred in part by complaints from veterans' groups and media coverage of poor or inconsistent treatment of America's veterans.

On Feb. 11, McClatchy Newspapers revealed how the VA's mental health spending was insufficient, leaving wide disparities in services and access. House and Senate Veterans' Committee members cited McClatchy's report as they urged Congress to boost mental health spending.

A week later, stories in The Washington Post prompted a major scandal as they detailed substandard care and poor maintenance at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Although Walter Reed is a Department of Defense facility and not run by the VA, Congress is giving extra money to the VA to avoid similar problems in its medical centers.

PENTAGON BREAKS PLEDGE TO TROOPS, SENDS THEM BACK TO IRAQ AFTER JUST NINE MONTHS AT HOME:

On April 11, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that tours of duty for the Army would be extended from 12 months to 15 months, effective immediately.

In exchange for the extensions, soldiers would receive at least a year home between deployments. This rest time was intended to "provide some long-term predictability for the soldiers and their families...particularly guaranteeing that they will be at home for a full 12 months," Gates added.

But Gates has not kept his promise. Last Thursday, Stars and Stripes reported, "Members of the 1st Armored Division's 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry, Company A, learned Tuesday that they are scheduled to head back to Iraq in November, just nine months after the 150-soldier company left the combat zone in February after a 13-month deployment."

A recent Pentagon report concluded that soldiers on extended and repeated deployments "were more likely to suffer acute stress, and that mental health problems correlated with higher rates of battlefield misconduct."

When asked about this nine-month deployment, Gates simply replied, "I'll be very interested in finding out more about that."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman's response was that "there are some people, just by the nature of transferring units and things like that may not end up with the full 12 months." According to Whitman, the 12-month rest period between deployments "is a goal," not a guarantee.

Flawed System May Hurt Disabled Soldiers
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

The way the government rates service members' disabilities is inconsistent, and the Army might be shortchanging injured soldiers, the chairman of a special commission said Thursday.

Testifying before a Senate panel, retired Lt. Gen. James Terry Scott, chairman of the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, detailed problems in the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs ratings systems. Critics contend the ratings are easily manipulated to limit disability payments and create undue confusion in a claims system already strained to the limit.

"It is apparent that service members are not well served," Scott said in testimony prepared for delivery to an unusual joint hearing of the Senate Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees called to examine gaps in the system.

In a preliminary review of Pentagon and VA data, the commission found the Army was much more likely than the other active forces to assign a disability rating of less than 30 percent, the typical cutoff to determine whether a person can get lifetime retirement payments and health care.

VA ratings tended to be higher, due to a separate system the department used that gave consideration to whether injured veterans were afflicted with multiple disabilities — not just a predominant one.

While the differing standards account for some inconsistencies, "it is also apparent that DOD has strong incentive to assign ratings less than 30 percent so that only separation pay is required," Scott said in testimony. His commission was formed in 2004 to study ways to improve the benefits system and is scheduled to issue a report later this year.

Scott also faulted the failure of the Pentagon and VA to work more effectively to create a shared electronic system for health records. He said his commission had repeatedly gotten vague, misleading or outright inaccurate explanations from the departments.

The Senate hearing is the latest to examine troop care after disclosures in February of shoddy conditions and outpatient treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, one of the premier facilities for treating injured service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among the complaints are the difficulties troops and veterans have in navigating the health care system, including long waits, lost paperwork and subjective ratings as they move from military hospitals to the VA's vast network of 1,400 clinics and treatment facilities.

The Army has acknowledged that it must improve its disability ratings system, and the Pentagon and VA have pledged to work together, most recently touting plans to share inpatient records in one system.

"A full solution is still several years away," Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said in prepared testimony, while offering assurances that he and VA Secretary Jim Nicholson do confer "when issues need to be addressed at our level."

Since the Walter Reed controversy, three high-level Pentagon officials have been forced to step down, including former Army Secretary Francis Harvey and Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman and Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the two previous commanders at Walter Reed.

An independent review group appointed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week said that money woes and Pentagon neglect were to blame for many of the problems, concluding that "leadership at Walter Reed should have been aware of poor living conditions and administrative hurdles" but chose to ignore them.

But on Thursday, acting Army Secretary Pete Geren expressed confidence in the new leadership at Walter Reed. He said numerous steps have been taken to improve conditions, such as adding more case managers, setting up phone hot lines and reducing paperwork.

"We are under no illusions that the work ahead will be easy or quick — or cheap; we have a lot to do to get this right," Geren said. "Mending the seams and fixing the myriad issues we have recently uncovered will take energy, patience, determination and above all, political will."

Pentagon Probing Care of Retired Vets
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) Responding to more allegations of poor health care for veterans, the Pentagon said Thursday it is investigating conditions at a historic retirement home in the capital.

The Defense Department sent a medical team on an inspection visit Wednesday after Defense Secretary Robert Gates received a letter from the Government Accountability Office reporting allegations of a rising death rate and rooms spattered with blood, urine and feces at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Northwest Washington.

"We are going to take every complaint and we are going to address it," said Maj. Stewart T. Upton, a Pentagon spokesman.

The GAO letter comes a month after revelations of poor living conditions and bureaucratic delays at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a scandal that has forced the resignations of three high-level Army officials.

That controversy also has prompted a review of the vast network of clinics and hospitals run by the Veterans Affairs - found in a separate probe this week to be beset by maintenance problems such as mold, leaking roofs and even a colony of bats.

The retirement home, formerly known as the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, was opened in 1851 for wounded and disabled war veterans and is home to more than 1,000 retirees.

Appropriators Vote to Keep Walter Reed Open
House Committee's Action Could Reverse Base Closing Scheduled for 2011
By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer

The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a measure yesterday that bars the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, an action supporters say will reverse plans to shut the hospital in 2011.

The provision, attached to a bill with additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, blocks the use of any federal money to close Walter Reed.

Keeping open a base that has been chosen for closure by the Defense Department's Base Realignment and Closure Commission would be unprecedented. The system creating an independent commission to make such decisions was adopted by Congress to prevent political interference with base closures. But recent disclosures of serious problems with the long-term care of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed have sparked calls in Congress and elsewhere to reverse the decision. Senior Army officials also suggested that the decision be reconsidered.

"This is a done deal," Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a committee member, said after the hearing. "Walter Reed will stay open."

"I can say without fear of contradiction it's not going to close," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

Walter Reed was selected to be closed by the BRAC panel in 2005. The recommendation, which Congress approved and President Bush signed into law, calls for the Army hospital to be consolidated with the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, where a $2 billion expansion is planned.

Yesterday's amendment came with bipartisan muscle, including the support of Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the Appropriations military subcommittee, and Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), the panel's ranking Republican. A spokesman for Murtha, Matt Mazonkey, said that the prospects for approval by Congress are good but that some members may be loath to open the BRAC process for other reversals.

Jeremiah Gertler, a senior analyst for the 1995 BRAC commission, said last week that Congress would have to invalidate the existing regulation and create a new law.

But Moran said the committee's action yesterday will be sufficient. "What they're saying is BRAC is sacrosanct, and a lot of us don't believe that's the case," Moran said. "If this unravels BRAC, too bad."

The language specifies that "none of the funds in this or any other Act may be used to close Walter Reed Army Medical Center."

It is a tiny part of a $124 billion emergency war spending bill that would set timetables for the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq.

That bill goes to the House floor next week. Bush has vowed to veto any war spending bill that sets timelines for troop withdrawals or conditions for the use of combat forces, as the House bill does.

Still, the overwhelming support shown for the Walter Reed measure should buoy supporters. If the provision does not survive in the spending bill, it will almost certainly be revisited in a separate war policy bill that will come before Congress later this year and in a defense spending bill for 2008.

Staff writer Jonathan Weisman contributed to this report.

MILITARY -- LAWMAKERS AWARE OF WALTER REED PROBLEMS SINCE 2004:

Members of Congress were aware of the abhorrent conditions that soldiers at Walter Reed faced several years before the issue erupted in the Washington Post last month.

In a subcommittee hearing, Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), who was chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee at the time, said he and his wife frequently visited veterans residing in poor conditions at the hospital and even "got in Gen. Kiley's face on a regular basis," but Young refused to use his influence as a congressman to bring attention to the problem out of fear of undermining war efforts.

"We did not go public with these concerns, because we did not want to undermine the confidence of the patients and their families and give the Army a black eye," said Young.

Young added that he falsely believed the many instances of patient neglect he witnessed were "basically isolated cases, soldier by soldier" and not evidence of a more systemic problem. Young instead continued to blame Kiley, maintaining, "Appropriations alone cannot solve all problems."

Rep. Thomas M. Davis, III (R-VA), former chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said he and his committee staff learned about the problems of wounded soldiers' health care in 2004 and directed the Government Accountability Office to "conduct several studies" on the matter. But Davis did not pressure committees or House leaders for better funding or new legislation to address the problems he witnessed.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) did attempt to raise awareness about the issue by seeking appropriations to address the problems he saw during visits to veterans hospitals, lambasting the Bush administration and Pentagon for discouraging patients and government officials from talking to legislators.

Starting this past Friday, the House Armed Services Committee and Veterans Affairs Committee will hold hearings on Walter Reed.

Veterans Face Consecutive Budget Cuts
By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press

The Bush administration plans to cut funding for veterans' health care two years from now — even as badly wounded troops returning from Iraq could overwhelm the system.

Bush is using the cuts, critics say, to help fulfill his pledge to balance the budget by 2012.

After an increase sought for next year, the Bush budget would turn current trends on their head. Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing rapidly — by more than 10 percent in many years — White House budget documents assume consecutive cutbacks in 2009 and 2010 and a freeze thereafter.

The proposed cuts are unrealistic in light of recent VA budget trends — its medical care budget has risen every year for two decades and 83 percent in the six years since Bush took office — sowing suspicion that the White House is simply making them up to make its long-term deficit figures look better.

"Either the administration is willingly proposing massive cuts in VA health care," said Rep. Chet Edwards (news, bio, voting record) of Texas, chairman of the panel overseeing the VA's budget. "Or its promise of a balanced budget by 2012 is based on completely unrealistic assumptions."

Edwards said that a more realistic estimate of veterans costs is $16 billion higher than the Bush estimate for 2012.

In fact, even the White House doesn't seem serious about the numbers. It says the long-term budget numbers don't represent actual administration policies. Similar cuts assumed in earlier budgets have been reversed.

The veterans cuts, said White House budget office spokesman Sean Kevelighan, "don't reflect any policy decisions. We'll revisit them when we do the (future) budgets."

The number of veterans coming into the VA health care system has been rising by about 5 percent a year as the number of people returning from Iraq with illnesses or injuries keep rising. Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans represent almost 5 percent of the VA's patient caseload, and many are returning from battle with grievous injuries requiring costly care, such as traumatic brain injuries.

All told, the VA expects to treat about 5.8 million patients next year, including 263,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House budget office, however, assumes that the veterans' medical services budget — up 83 percent since Bush took office and winning a big increase in Bush's proposed 2008 budget — can absorb a 2 percent cut the following year and remain essentially frozen for three years in a row after that.

"It's implausible," Sen. Patty Murray (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., said of the budget projections.

The White House made virtually identical assumptions last year — a big increase in the first year of the budget and cuts for every year thereafter to veterans medical care. Now, the White House estimate for 2008 is more than $4 billion higher than Bush figured last year.

And the VA has been known to get short-term estimates wrong as well. Two years ago, Congress had to pass an emergency $1.5 billion infusion for veterans health programs for 2005 and added $2.7 billion to Bush's request for 2006. The VA underestimated the number of veterans, including those from Iraq and Afghanistan, who were seeking care, as well as the cost of treatment and long-term care.

The budget for hospital and medical care for veterans is funded for the current year at $35.6 billion, and would rise to $39.6 billion in 2008 under Bush's budget. That's about 9 percent. But the budget faces a cut to $38.8 billion in 2009 and would hover around that level through 2012.

The cuts come even as the number of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is expected to increase 26 percent next year.

In Bush's proposal to balance the budget by 2012, he's assuming that spending on domestic agency operating budgets will increase by about 1 percent each year.

Many U.S. troops short on crucial gear
By SHARON THEIMER
Associated Press Writer

 
Hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced shortages of key protective equipment including armored vehicles, roadside-bomb countermeasures and communications gear, a Pentagon survey released Tuesday shows.

The Defense Department Inspector General's Office polled roughly 1,100 service members and found they weren't always adequately equipped for their missions. The troops were interviewed in Iraq and Afghanistan last May and June.

Those surveyed reported shortcoming with vehicles outfitted with armor; "crew-served weapons," which are weapons it takes more than one person to handle, such as artillery or a large machine gun; electronic countermeasure devices, such as equipment designed to foil roadside bombs by interfering with cell-phone signals that may be used to detonate them; and communications equipment.

The survey found that those not getting needed gear include troops performing untraditional missions such as training, reconstruction, detainee operations and explosive ordnance disposal.

In some cases, they went ahead with the work anyway, used informal means to get what they needed or canceled or put off operations while waiting for equipment, the report summary said.

The report found the U.S. Central Command and the Army's internal equipment controls inadequate and recommends improvements.

Only a summary of the findings were made public; much of the report is classified.

VETERANS -- VETERANS AFFAIRS DEPARMENT MISHANDLES MENTAL HEALTH FUNDING:

A new report by the Government Accountability Office found the "Department of Veterans Affairs did not spend all of the extra $300 million it budgeted to increase mental health services and failed to keep track of how some of the money was used."

"VA tracking of spending for plan initiatives was inadequate," the report concluded.

"VA launched a plan in 2004 to improve its mental health services for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance-abuse problems. To fill gaps in services, the department added $100 million for mental health initiatives in 2005 and $200 million in 2006.

That money was to be distributed to its regional networks of hospitals, medical centers and clinics for new services.

But VA fell short of the spending, by $12 million in 2005 and about $42 million in fiscal 2006." "In addition, VA cannot determine to what extent about $112 million was spent on mental health services improvements or new services in 2006."

The report also found service gaps "in treating veterans with serious mental illness, female veterans, and veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan."

"There are thousands of men and women who come home from war and are told they need to wait months for a counseling appointment at the VA," said Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "That is unacceptable."

MILITARY -- NEW POLL OF IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETS DECLARES MILITARY IS OVERSTRETCHED, UNDEREQUIPPED: 

VoteVets.org, a political advocacy group formed and funded by veterans, released the first-ever poll of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans yesterday.

Respondents, most of whom were conservatives, delivered a damaging assessment of the current state of the military.

"Forty-two percent of the troops surveyed said their equipment was below the military standard of being 90 percent operational.

Nearly two-thirds said the Army and Marines were overextended, and a quarter said their families faced hard times financially because of their deployments."

Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets, said, "The results of this poll should be a wake up call to every American.

We are shortchanging our troops, in combat and at home." He added, "I am proud of my service in Iraq, but my job was made more difficult by the real life-or-death challenges I faced when it came to equipment and supplies that were inadequate or not fully operational."

See the full results here.

MILITARY -- VITAL WEAPONS SYSTEM DELAYED FOR YEARS AFTER PENTAGON BOWS TO RAYTHEON:

Last year, "commanders in Iraq began asking the Pentagon for a new system to counter" what is quickly becoming the weapon of choice for insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan: rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs. Instead of employing an already well-established defense system, the Pentagon chose to award the contract to "one of its favored defense contractors," Raytheon.

Indeed, the "Trophy" system, designed by an Israeli company, is "designed to fit on top of tanks and other armored vehicles like the Stryker now in use in Iraq" and protect against RPGs using radar and interceptor missiles.

When the Pentagon's Office of Force Transformation (OFT) tested the Trophy system in March, they "found it at least 98 percent effective against RPGs in near-battlefield conditions."

Despite the OFT's initial plan to buy several system, the Army rejected the idea. Instead, the $70 million contract was granted to Raytheon, a company which, "at almost every turn...was given a significant competitive advantage over other defense contractors," according to an NBC News investigation.

For example, of the 21-person team chosen by the army to evaluate competing systems, nine were from Raytheon.

Unlike the Trophy system, which is nearing use in Israel, the Raytheon system must be developed from scratch and "will not be fielded before 2011 at the earliest."

Asks one senior Pentagon official, "what are our troops in the field supposed to do for the next five or six years?”

The Pentagon, and Donald Rumsfeld, are willing to let more American soldiers die over the next five years,

Money for Brain Injury Treatment for Troops Slashed
Outraged Veterans Say Congress 'Out of Touch'
By JOHN YANG

WASHINGTON,  The head of biggest combat veterans groups lambasted congressional action that cut in half federal funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries caused by explosions, which one neurology expert has called the signature injury of the war in Iraq.

The proposed funding cut "clearly indicates that the Congress is out of touch with the realities and consequences of war," Jim Mueller, the outgoing commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Vietnam War veteran, said in a written statement. "You either take care of the troops or you do not."

Vice President Cheney, addressing the group's national convention in Reno, Nev., Monday pledged to "enhance the respect shown by our government to veterans ... not just in words but in resources."

The Bush administration has requested $7 million in funding for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center as it has done for the last several years, but in the past, Congress has given the center another $7 million, for a total of $14 million. This year, though, Congress has not added the additional funding.

The House passed its version of the spending bill in June and the Senate is to take up the bill when lawmakers return from their August recess.

A spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee said the reduction in funding from previous years was the result of spending restraints.

The center, actually a network of facilities around the country, is a collaboration between the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department. Founded in 1992, it operates at seven military and VA medical centers around the nation, and runs a civilian clinic in Charlottesville, Va.

In addition to treating combat veterans, the centers also treat other government employees, including State Department officials who have suffered traumatic brain injuries in the line of their official duties. The program also researches ways to better diagnose brain injuries.

Traumatic brain injuries result from a violent blow to the head -- what's known as a closed-head injury -- or from a bullet or shrapnel that penetrates the brain.

George Zitnay, a Charlottesville brain injury expert who is a co-founder of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, told ABC News earlier this year that traumatic brain injury is the "signature injury of the war on terrorism."

That's because of the proliferation of roadside bombs in Iraq and improved body armor that shields troops from lethal wounds but can do nothing about the violent jolts to even helmeted heads that can damage the brain as it bounces off the inside of the skull.

As a result, more troops are surviving injuries suffered in Iraq than in previous wars, but more troops are surviving with permanent injuries. According to Pentagon data reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, only about 10 percent of wounds in Iraq are lethal -- less than half the rate in the first Persian Gulf War, Vietnam and Korea each, and a full one-third of the rate in World War II.

By one estimate, as many as 10 percent of all troops in Iraq and up to 20 percent of front-line infantry suffer concussions during combat tours.

Traumatic brain injury can have a wide range of effects. Depending on the part of the brain that's damaged, victims can have difficulty understanding or formulating speech, counting or doing simple math, or undergo personality changes.

"It is absolutely inexcusable that lawmakers would slash funding during a time of war for a research center that is earning its keep by addressing the exact types of injuries our troops are suffering," said Jim Mueller of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "This research center is an investment in the future potential of traumatically disabled soldiers. It is not an expense."

MILITARY -- PENTAGON APPROVED $11 BILLION CONTRACT FOR USELESS WEAPONS SYSTEM:

Following the advice of the taxpayer-funded Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), the Air Force recently approved an $11 billion contract for the controversial F-22 fighter jet, arguably the Pentagon’s most useless weapon system. 

One of the most expensive fighter programs ever undertaken, the F-22 has been plagued by cost overruns and technical difficulties, including a cockpit door that got stuck and defective landing gear that led to crashing a plane on its nose.

More importantly, the jet is unnecessary, conceived in 1985 to fight a Soviet fighter jet that was never built.

Ignoring bipartisan opposition and criticism from the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service, which both concluded that the plane was "unqualified" for an extended contract, the Pentagon based its support for the F-22 system on an endorsement from the "independent" IDA.

But as the Washington Post reported last week, IDA President Dennis Blair is a "member of the board of a subcontractor for the F-22 Raptor fighter program, EDO Corp."

Although Blair admits he was "at the top of the process" of drafting the report urging the Pentagon to approve the contract, he refused to recuse himself.

Senate Armed Services Charmain John Warner (R-VA) called the news "extremely, extremely disturbing," and asked the Pentagon to "clean up" this "sad" situation.

HOMELAND SECURITY -- ADMINISTRATION WON'T PAY FOR CREDIT CHECKS FOR VETS WHOSE DATA WAS STOLEN:

The Bush administration has reneged on its offer of free credit-monitoring to help the 26.5 million veterans and service-members whose personal data was stolen from a Department of Veterans Affairs employee's laptop.

Citing the FBI's "high degree of confidence" that nothing sensitive was accessed, Deputy VA Secretary Gordon Mansfield said that legislation proposed after the burglary, which would require mandatory warnings to victims in the event of a data breach, is now "no longer necessary."

Leaders of veterans groups reacted angrily that the administration will not err "on the side of safety or on the side of veterans," especially since, according to Jim Mueller of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, "Computer industry experts are telling us the exact opposite of what the FBI has reported."

The VA inspector general's office found that the department had "poorly protected" the sensitive information and responded to the theft with "indifference and little sense of urgency or responsibility" at nearly every step.

Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Larry Craig (R-Idaho) said the report is “a stinging indictment of a security system that was lax to nonexistent.”

Memorial Day: Duty to veterans

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

On this Memorial Day, the tally of U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq is nearing 2,500 and, as always, having U.S. troops in harm's way adds a special poignancy to what is to many of us no more than a three-day weekend.

Dying at a much faster rate, of course, are World War II veterans -- at a rate of more than 1,000 a day, old age proving a more relentless enemy than those they faced on the battlefield.

Few who survive combat do so completely unscarred. For some, the emotional wounds are deep and enduring.

Nearly 1.3 million U.S. military men and women have returned from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, and like veterans of previous wars, they may face mental health issues as a result.

Are we prepared to help them deal with this cost of having done their duty?

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is concerned that the military is not sufficiently prepared. The senator points to alarming comments by the VA's undersecretary for health policy coordination, Dr. Frances Murphy. Quoted in Psychiatric News, Murphy said that some VA clinics do not provide mental health or substance abuse care or, if they do, "waiting lists render that care virtually inaccessible."

Murray says Murphy's remarks seem to conflict with VA Secretary Jim Nicholson's assurances that the agency has enough funding to care for veterans.

It's a timely reminder of the debt the nation owes its veterans.

HEALTH -- MILITARY RETIREES VOICE OPPOSITION TO BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S ATTEMPTS TO RAISE HEALTH COSTS:

Thirteen military associations are rallying support to block the Bush administration's efforts to the instill new fee increases for Tricare, the health system for military retirees under the age of 65. 

The Military Retirees’ Healthcare Protection Act, HR 4949, would prevent increases in enrollment fees and pharmacy co-pays that could affect three million military retirees and their families unless and until Congress approved changes that would then have to be signed into law.

The bill was introduced in Congress last Tuesday and has already gained 64 co-sponsors in the House. The bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX), wondered how people would react if the bill he introduced had "created a tax — $1,000 for retired officers and $490 for retired enlisted people — and had that money go to cover the cost of the war?

That wouldn't be well received, would it? But that is, essentially, what the Bush administration is asking — for retirees to be charged to cover military expenses." 

The Military Officers Association of America has come up with a list of 16 options for reducing military health care costs without increasing fees.

IRAQ -- MORE EVIDENCE EMERGES THAT BUSH MISLED NATION INTO WAR:

The National Journal reports that two classified intelligence briefs delivered directly to President Bush prior to the Iraq war "cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq."

The first report, delivered to Bush in October 2002, stated that the Energy Department and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that Iraq's aluminum tubes were "intended for conventional weapons," a view contradicting Bush's statement that the aluminum tubes were being used to enrich nuclear weapons.

A second report informed Bush that "U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that it was unlikely that Saddam would try to attack the United States -- except if 'ongoing military operations risked the imminent demise of his regime.'"

This report contradicts claims by administration officials at the time that Iraq was a "grave and gathering threat."

IRAQ -- INCOMPETENCE HAS REIGNED SUPREME IN POST-WAR IRAQ:

President Bush has argued previously that he made a "miscalculation of what the conditions would be" in postwar Iraq.

In fact, as numerous leaked reports have shown, Bush had been presented a great deal of intelligence warning of the postwar chaos, and he simply ignored them.

Most recently, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said, "There was insufficient systematic planning for human capital management in Iraq before and during the U.S.-directed stabilization and reconstruction operations."

Similarly, Knight-Ridder reported last week that a National Intelligence Estimate completed in October 2003 warned that the "insurgency in Iraq had deep local roots, was likely to worsen and could lead to civil war."

When a report by the National Intelligence Council warning about the prospects of a civil war in Iraq was made public in mid-2004, Bush dismissed the analysis as "just guessing." 

A review by former intelligence officers concluded in late 2005 that the Bush administration "apparently paid little or no attention" to prewar assessments by the Central Intelligence Agency that warned of major cultural and political obstacles to stability in postwar Iraq.

The incompetence appears to have stemmed from a "flawed and rushed war-planning process."

IRAQ -- SHARP INCREASE IN NUMBER OF ARMY RECRUITS WITH HISTORY OF MEDICAL AND DRUG PROBLEMS, CRIMINAL CONDUCT:

"Struggling to boost its ranks in wartime," the U.S. Army has "sharply increased the number of recruits who would normally be barred" because of medical problems, alcohol or illegal drug addiction, or a history of criminal misconduct.

In the latest 12-month recruiting period, the Army granted waivers to just over 11,000 Army recruits, some 15 percent of the total, "raising concerns that the Army is lowering its standards to make recruiting goals."

The largest proportion of waivers went to recruits with past medical problems, but there was a "significant increase in the number of recruits with what the Army terms 'serious criminal misconduct' in their background.

That category includes aggravated assault, robbery, vehicular manslaughter, receiving stolen property and making terrorist threats." Despite the increased number of waivers, the Army still failed to meet its recruiting target.